Honda recently showed off a new
personal mobility technology that closely mimics a robotic unicycle
designed to help disabled people move around.

The new device,
the U3-X, has a seat height a bit higher than an average person's
waistline, and riders must jump up a bit before they can put their
feet on a foot rest. Honda designed the U3-X so it can move
forward and backwards, sideways and diagonally.

Riders simply
need to lean the direction they wish to go in, and it has a top speed
of 3.7 MPH.

"We believe this is the first step in
realizing
the fun of human transportation and expanding that joy
indefinitely," Honda President Takanobu Ito said during the
event. "And if my legs get a little weak, I would like to
have one of these around the house. It makes it easy to move
about."

Honda is known for its robotics development and
similar technological advancements, though very few of its new
technologies have been made available to the public. Similar to
other breakthroughs, it looks like Honda is more interested in
showing off future technologies, not necessarily launching products
in the next few years.

In fact, the U3-X development was made
possible in part because of Honda's bipedal humanoid research robot
known as ASIMO.

Honda will show off the U3-X during the
Tokyo Motor Show in late October, Honda officials said in a
statement.

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